Tag Archives: East Africa food crisis

Hunger and drought creep across northern Africa

Posted on March 1, 2012 by World Vision social media team in Disaster Relief

In Africa, there is often a period of time between when a family’s stores from their last harvest runs out and when their new crop is ready to eat. These are known as the “hungry months.” Expensive, store-bought food is purchased and carefully rationed. Those who can’t buy food depend on neighbors, relatives, churches, and food distributions. And if there’s a drought, crops fail, or rains are late, those hungry months can turn into a hungry year. This is the case for communities in the Horn of Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Somalia), which is recovering from a historic drought and food crisis, and communities in West Africa (Niger, Mauritania, Mali, Chad, and Senegal), where drought is just settling in....

Famine in Somalia is officially over, but…

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Rachael Dill Boyer in Disaster Relief

Famine in Somalia is officially over | World Vision Blog

Of course, I’m happy that the United Nations has declared an end to the famine in Somalia. This is encouraging news, considering that six regions of the country were designated as famine zones last July. However, an estimated 2 million people still face serious food shortages in Somalia. Our work in the drought-ravaged Horn of Africa is nowhere near done....

A different kind of day

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Nathaniel Hurd in Advocacy, Stories

I found myself in a hot, dusty camp on the border with Ethiopia, where Somalis who had fled their homes because of violence and the worst drought in 60 years were living. It’s there that I met Habiba. Habiba is a 47-year-old mother of 10. She and her family used to grow bananas and mangoes and raise animals. But the drought destroyed their crops and killed all of their animals: 100 cattle, 200 goats, and 500 chickens, all gone....

FWD the facts: Day of Action for the Horn of Africa

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Lindsey Talerico-Hedren in Disaster Relief

FWD > Day of Action for the Horn of Africa | World Vision blog

There are many goals we have for the future that help define our work as an organization: reducing global poverty, ending preventable child deaths, eradicating malaria, and so on. But just for today, we have another goal: to inspire 13.3 million Americans to FWD the facts about the drought and food crisis in the Horn of Africa, spreading awareness to ensure that the tragedy no longer goes overlooked. In partnership with USAID and the FWD (Famine, War, Drought Relief) campaign, World Vision is asking supporters to participate in today’s FWD>Day of Action for the Horn of Africa. How? It’s as simple as this: FWD the facts....

Covering Somalia: Are we doing enough?

Posted on November 4, 2011 by World Vision field communicators in Disaster Relief, Stories

Over the weekend, I read a memoir of the life of Ahmed Ali Haile, a great Somali whom I was blessed to meet earlier at Daystar University in Kenya, where I attended my undergraduate studies. Haile taught a course I took on understanding Islam — a course that would positively influence my relations with the Somalis with whom I work. In his memoir, Haile narrates his experience of famine in 1965, as a 12-year-old boy in central Somalia. His family and community had coping mechanisms that they practiced. But the continued conflict there has clearly cut off this pattern — and the consequences are devastating. Since I started working for World Vision three years ago, I have met many malnourished...